In his new book, the famed physicist dismisses the notion, sometimes peddled by scientists, that a deity was involved with the big bang: “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. ... It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.”

A study has found that people who drink a lot of alcohol tend to live longer than people who never touch the stuff. So much for not burning the candle at both ends. But don’t go crashing that frat party just yet: People who drink in moderation, as in one to three drinks a day, live longest of all.

A couple of days after I arrived in Tucson, there came a party invitation. The public was invited to the top of Mount Lemmon for a viewing of the annual Perseid showers, a breathtaking display of shooting stars. While I generally brake for sand, I also hit the road for star parties.

There are three kinds of studies we hear about. (1) Something incredibly obvious turns out to be true. (2) Something you like is good for you. (3) Something you like is bad for you. Obviously we prefer No. 2s, like this study out of Norway that says drinking wine—especially if you’re a woman—might make you smarter.

Researchers say they have developed a 100 percent accurate spinal tap test for the brain disease. Brain scans, too, have become a potentially important tool in diagnosing the disease. The new tests are significant because Alzheimer’s can begin more than a decade before symptoms show up and because there is hope that new drugs could be effective.

Meat from a bull descended from a cloned cow entered the British food supply, a government regulator said, and “will have been eaten.” Sale of the meat was apparently in violation of European law as the Food Standards Agency has not yet decided whether meat derived from cloning is kosher, so to speak.

This could be a case in which the cure may cause problems above and beyond the severity of the symptoms, but a study that sounds like more fun than others we’ve heard of has found that alcohol consumption may help ease the pain caused by rheumatoid arthritis, as well as check the disease itself.

Spanish doctors say they are ready to release “Oscar,” the recipient of the first 100 percent face transplant. Previous transplants in France and the United States were only partial. Warning: This video might disturb some viewers.

As much as one-third of all flowering plants face extinction at the hands of humans, according to new research—and that’s not even factoring in climate change. Such a die-off would have a devastating impact on the food chain. As one of the researchers put it, “if you get rid of [plants] you get rid of a lot of the things above them.”

“Deep Spill 2” sounds like a sequel to a Hollywood thriller. Unfortunately, it is more of a reality show. “Deep Spill 2” is the name of an ambitious series of proposed scientific experiments that should be happening right now.

Today on the list: The Supreme Court-bound argument for gay marriage aims to win over every justice, why one author says monogamy is unnatural (just in case), the sound of sadness as identified by scientists, and more.

Our ability to evacuate to Mars once we’re done wrecking the Earth depends on a lot, but the whole idea is a nonstarter if the fourth rock from the sun is dry. Ten years ago scientists discovered evidence of flowing water on Mars and we have reason to believe there’s plenty of the frozen variety, but we still haven’t caught Mars with its gullies wet.

File this one under the medical science of “duh,” but people who use indoor tanning beds are 74 percent likelier to develop melanoma, a new study has found. According to one researcher, “Our data would suggest that there is no safe tanning device.” Someone alert the cast of “Jersey Shore.”

A team of U.S. scientists has created what they’re calling a “synthetic cell,” although really it appears to be more of a Franken-cell, if you will, since the cell’s genome is artificial but the “recipient cell” is not. All the same, it’s still bound to freak some people out.

Scientists once thought all that carbon dioxide that humans have been pumping into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution kicked off might be good for plants (even if it hotboxes the planet in the process), but recent studies show we have a lot to worry about. (continued)

The space shuttle Atlantis is prepped and ready to launch into space one last time, the first of three final flights for each of NASA’s soon-to-be-retired shuttles. She will carry with her six veteran astronauts, a Russian module bound for the International Space Station and a heap of unanswered questions about the future of the manned space program.

The famed physicist is certain that there is alien life, but he’s not convinced we would get Alf: “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

Researchers in Canada showed young adults photos of obviously diseased people and found that the subjects’ immune systems were significantly more aggressive when later exposed to a glop of bacteria. Test subjects got a negligible boost from similarly upsetting, but not disease-y, images.

We were a little slow on the uptake when it came to finding this TED talk that author and Truthdig contributor Sam Harris gave this past winter, but it’s definitely worth a belated look, or even a second look, as the case may be.

It seems like everyone is investigating Toyota these days. There’s the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Academy of Sciences and even the automaker itself. Why not NASA? Apparently Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was thinking the same thing. (continued)

Hoping to become the “Saudi Arabia of tidal energy,” the Scottish government is offering 10 million pounds to spur innovation in wave power. Some say the incentive is unnecessary, since private companies are already racing to figure out the best way to generate electricity from the ocean.

Fed up with a certain automotive academic who has been challenging Toyota’s claims about its car troubles, the automaker demonstrated similar problems in its competitors’ vehicles and fielded a team of experts to argue counterpoint. One of those experts runs a consulting firm for hire that once found no link between secondhand smoke and cancer. (continued)

The evidence that human activities are responsible for global warming is stronger than ever, according to a review of 110 research papers on climate change by the U.K. Met Office, Britain’s national weather service.

Low carb or low fat? Diet trends have led to diet debate. Luckily, some actual scientists are weighing in. The preliminary results of a small study suggest that some of us just process food differently, and picking the right diet based on a gene test could shed two to three times more weight.

There may be more than 600 million metric tons of water ice sitting in craters at the moon’s north pole. The discovery, made by an Indian spacecraft, could mean big things for human colonization of our nearest neighbor.

America isn’t the only country trying to eat its way to happiness. A new study predicts that by the year 2020, 81 percent of adult British men and 68 percent of women will be obese or overweight. (continued)

A lot of people have said in recent weeks that the space agency simply lacks the chutzpah that put a man on a moon. Figure out global warming? Boring, they say. The Onion has come up with a satirical solution that just might blow your minds: Project Spaceman, the David Bowie-inspired Glam Space Program. (continued)

Before we scare you, keep in mind that if everyone in America who experienced high blood pressure—that’s about a third of us—got dementia, you would know about it. However, new research suggests that the relationship between hypertension and dementia is more pronounced and alarming than doctors previously understood ... (continued)

Our culture tends to reward multitasking, sleep-deprived go-getters, but a new study confirms that catching up on sleep over the weekend just doesn’t work. After weeks of less than seven to nine hours a night, “banking” a long stretch on your days off isn’t going to repair your memory, immune system or ability to drive a car. (Continued)

An Iranian spokesman accused the “triangle of wickedness,” otherwise known as Israel, the U.S. and “their hired agents,” of carrying out the Tuesday bombing of Iranian scientist Massoud Ali Mohammadi. The State Department said that was “absurd.”